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Journal of Healthcare ManagementClick here to learn more about the Journal of Healthcare Management Email us to learn more about New Heights Group |
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| Creating Market Opportunities: Innovation Is the Key
by Howard J. Gershon and Alex Pattakos, Jan/Feb 2004 (Volume 49, Number 1) |
Much has been said about the four Ps of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion; but little has been said about the importance of the big E in marketing—that is, ethics. In today’s environment, where the news is full of reports of questionable leadership behaviors, ethics seems to have become an option. As healthcare executives, we are charged with not only ensuring quality services but also managing our institutions as a public trust. Download this article (pdf under 100KB) |
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| Strategic Positioning: Where Does Your Organization Stand? by Howard J. Gershon, Jan/Feb 2003 |
Over 20 years ago, the concept of strategic positioning was popularized by Jack Trout and Al Ries in their seminal publication Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (McGraw Hill, 1981). Although this concept has been enthusiastically embraced by many industries, its application in healthcare has been laggard at best. Because almost all healthcare organizations in the United States continue to operate in competitive environments, strategic positioning is a concept that warrants careful consideration. Download this article (pdf under 100KB) |
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| The Value of Market Research
by Howard J. Gershon and William C. Jackson, May/June 2003 |
A ccording to the Marketing Research Association (2003), market research is a multibillion dollar industry in the United States that is dedicated to providing valuable information to companies that provide products and services. Market research helps these organizations understand and meet customer wants and needs, which allows the organizations to improve the quality and usefulness of their offerings and guides their decision making. Simply put, market research is the science of listening. Download this article (pdf under 100KB) |
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| The E in Marketing: Ethics in the Age of Misbehavior
by Howard J. Gershon and Gary E. Buerstatte, Sept/Oct 2003 (Volume 48, Number 5) |
Management guru Peter Drucker said, ‘Every organization, not just business, needs one core competency—innovation.’ In practice, many healthcare organizations trivialize this innovation mandate.There is a saying, “If you want things to stay the same, then something is going to have to change.” Evolutionary innovation involves small and simple (but still different) steps toward achieving change. Download this article (pdf under 100KB) |
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| Market Management: A ConceptWorth Exploring
by Howard J. Gershon, Nov/Dec 2003 |
Marketing is the structuring of the exchange of products or services with markets or customers. Most healthcare organizations focus their marketing efforts on the products or services end of the equation. Many have adopted innovative organizational concepts such as service line management. Download this article (pdf under 100KB) |
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Strategic Health Care MarketingClick here to learn more about the Strategic Health Care Marketing Newsletter Email us to learn more about New Heights Group |
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| Top Trends Affecting Health Care Marketing in 2009
by Nancy Vessel |
EXCERPT: Health care marketing executives and consultants agree that the overriding issue expected to affect hospital marketing and business development in 2009 is the downward spiral of the nation’s economy, specifically the rise in unemployed / uninsured patients, the drop in consumer spending, and the increased cost of borrowing – with no end in sight. Download this article (pdf under 100KB ) |
| Packaged Services Demand Key Elements
by Nancy Vessel |
EXCERPT: Service packaging is “increasingly going to become more effective strategy,” says Howard Gershon as aging baby boomers become primary customers of health care, they will encounter systemic health issues requiring multidisciplinary approaches and will be more demanding of customer-focused service. Download this article (pdf under 100KB ) |
| Fine Tuning Your Service Lines – How to Best Service Your Service Lines
by Cecily Lohmar SHM, Vol 25 No 10 |
As Providers Seek to differentiate their services in an increasingly competitive environment, the service-line strategy is undergoing a resergence in popularity. But challenges in implementation continue. A recent survey of heath care executives, conducted by the New Heights Group and the Forum for Healthcare Strategists, found numerous similarities in the struggles organizations face in implementing a service-line strategy.
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| Use Service Line Analysis to Make Wise Investments
by Cecily Lohmar SHM, Vol 22 No 4 |
Hospital executives must invest increasingly scarce capital and management resources ever more prudently. Service line analysis (sometimes called portfolio analysis) can be a valuable tool to assess the current mix of services and guide resource allocation. It is useful at both the hospital and system level.
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| How To Best Evaluate Service Investments or Divestments
by Cecily Lohmar SHM, Vol 21 No 3 |
What may work for a Fortune 500 company simply doesn’t meet the multiple, and often conflicting, needs of most not-for-profit health care providers. This executive checklist provides a more comprehensive approach to making important resource allocation decisions. |
| Health Care Enters Era of Innovation
featuring Howard Gershon SHM, Vol 22 No 5 |
Howard Gershon integrates the Seeds of Innovation approach, developed by Elaine Dundon, into healthcare. Letting go of old ways of thinking and opening up to new approaches is the transformational thinking key to spurring strategic innovation in healthcare organizations. |
| What Does Quality Mean?
featuring Howard Gershon SHM, Vol 22 No 5 |
Quality through innovation is featured in this article overviewing Howard Gershon’s work with Hall-Brooke Behavioral Services (Westport, CT) and how New Heights Group got the managers of this organization to stretch their creativity and develop new strategies for future growth. |
| Non-Traditional Opportunities in Imaging – Adapting to a Changing Market
by Cecily Lohmar SHM, Feb 2006 |
You’ve all heard the futurists – medical imaging is one of the most rapidly growing and profitable areas in health care. Yet hospitals are finding it increasingly difficult to capitalize on this growth. Competition is coming from all sides….At the same time, consumers are demanding greater convenience, making it even more difficult for hospitals to compete. Strategies that build on the same old ways may not serve hospitals adequately in a changing market. Thus, the conundrum many hospitals today face is how to capitalize on the opportunities inherent in this high-growth service.
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Healthcare Strategy AlertClick here to learn more about Health Care Strategy Alert Email us to learn more about New Heights Group |
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| Service Line Challenges
featuring Cecily Lohmar HCSA, 2008 Issue 5 |
Recent research from New Heights Group, in collaboration with the Forum for Healthcare Strategists, indicates that there is a lot of variation in how healthcare organizations are interpreting and implementing the service line concept.
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Healthcare ExecutiveClick here to learn more about Healthcare Executive Email us to learn more about New Heights Group |
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| The RE-EMERGENCE of Clinical Service Line Management
featuring Cecily Lohmar |
EXCERPT: As healthcare leaders are positioning their organizations for a more competitive environment characterized by expanding consumer choice models, they are renewing their attention on organizing along clinical service lines. Bringing together clinical services in ways meaningful to patients can improve quality by better integrating care, while at the same time strengthening an organization’s market position and creating new opportunities for increased physician collaboration—from collaborative planning to management to economic participation.
…Lohmar emphasizes that implementing service line management helps healthcare leaders think outside the box. “It focuses the organization on services and patients rather than departments and real estate. It further provides a common goal for integrating clinical, managerial and medical staff. Implementing service line management intuitively makes sense in today’s consumer-driven environment.” Click here to learn more about Healthcare Executive |
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Healthcare Strategic ManagementClick here to learn more about Health Care Strategic Management Email us to learn more about New Heights Group |
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| Giving Patients The Alternative: Hospitals Find Success Integrating Holistic Medicine Into Service Lines Featuring Howard Gershon |
EXCERPT: Not so long ago, if your back hurt, you had a choice: You could go see your physician, or you could take the “alternative” route and visit a chiropractor. If you were having digestive problems, you could visit your doctor, who would write a prescription, or you could take the “holistic” route and visit an herbalist, who would give you a natural remedy. But today, alternative and holistic methods are called “complementary,” and hospitals nationwide have made them a part of their service lines, calling them “integrative” medicine.
…”The American Hospital Association released a survey about a year ago [showing] that one in four hospitals now have an integrative medicine program,” said Howard Gershon, principal with New Heights Group, LLC, a consulting firm based in Santa Fe, NM. Gershon spoke during the Forum for Healthcare Strategists’ Customer Based Marketing Strategies Summit in Orlando, FL, in April. “A survey from a few years ago showed only 10% of hospitals had them, and now one in four has an organized program.” Click here to learn more about Healthcare Strategic Management |